Quantifying the effect of human practices on S. cerevisiae vineyard metapopulation diversity

Saccharomyces cerevisiae is the main actor of wine fermentation but at present, still little is known about the factors impacting its distribution in the vineyards. In this study, 23 vineyards and 7 cellars were sampled over 2 consecutive years in the Bordeaux and Bergerac regions. The impact of geography and farming system and the relation between grape and vat populations were evaluated using a collection of 1374 S. cerevisiae merlot grape isolates and 289 vat isolates analyzed at 17 microsatellites loci. A very high genetic diversity of S. cerevisiae strains was obtained from grape samples, higher in conventional farming system than in organic one. The geographic appellation and the wine estate significantly impact the S. cerevisiae population structure, whereas the type of farming system has a weak global effect. When comparing cellar and vineyard populations, we evidenced the tight connection between the two compartments, based on the high proportion of grape isolates (25%) related to the commercial starters used in the cellar and on the estimation of bidirectional geneflows between the vineyard and the cellar compartments.